The 903d Air Refueling Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

unit. It was last assigned to the 17th Bombardment Wing, stationed at

Beale Air Force Base Beale Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately east of Marysville, California. It is located outside Linda, about east of the towns of Marysville and Yuba City, and about north of Sacramento. The host ...

, California. For much of its existence, the squadron focused on refueling

SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. It was operated by the United States Air Force ...

aircraft, which were stationed at Beale after 1965. It was inactivated on 30 September 1976.

History

The 903d Air Refueling Squadron was organized on 1 April 1959 by

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

(SAC) at

, California''See'' Mueller, pp. 25–27 It was assigned to the 4126th Strategic Wing and equipped with

KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...

s. The 4126th wing was established by SAC in a program to disperse its

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. The squadron initially provided air refueling primarily to the B-52s of the 4126th wing. Half of the wing's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled, armed, and ready for combat until the squadron's deployment missions superseded alert requirements. It also deployed tankers to Alaska to support

Operation Chrome Dome Operation Chrome Dome was a United States Air Force Cold War-era mission from 1960 to 1968 in which B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert and flew routes to points on the Soviet ...

. The 903d transferred to 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing in 1963 when SAC replaced its Major Command controlled (MAJCON) strategic wings with wings carrying the honors of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

organizations.Ravenstein, pp. 251–252 Later that year, the squadron supported Operation Greased Lightning, a speed record flight by

B-58 Hustler The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...

s from Japan to England. From the mid 1960s, the squadron concentrated on refueling

s of the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, and later, the

9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing The 9th Reconnaissance Wing (9 RW) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command and Sixteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California. The wing is also the host unit at Beale. Its mission is t ...

.Ravenstein, pp. 32–33 Its tankers were modified to carry the PF-1 (later

JP-7 Turbine Fuel Low Volatility JP-7, commonly known as JP-7 (referred to as Jet Propellant 7 prior to MIL-DTL-38219) is a specialized type of jet fuel developed in 1955 for the United States Air Force (USAF) for use in its supersonic military aircr ...

) fuel used by the SR-71s. The modified aircraft were later designated KC-135Qs. The squadron frequently deployed its aircraft and

aircrew Aircrew, also called flight crew, are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions ...

s and often had its entire resources deployed at various locations. Its deployments included support for

Operation Arc Light During Operation Arc Light (sometimes Arclight) from 1965 to 1973, the United States Air Force deployed B-52 Stratofortresses from bases in the U.S. Territory of Guam to provide battlefield air interdiction during the Vietnam War. This included ...

from

Kadena Air Base (IATA: DNA, ICAO: RODN) is a highly strategic United States Air Force base in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is often referred to as the "Keystone of the Pacific" because of its highl ...

, Okinawa and deployments to Torrejon Air Base, Spain. In 1963 and in 1967 the squadron won the Frank Ellis Trophy from Fifteenth Air Force for outstanding refueling performance. The squadron was reassigned to the 17th Bombardment Wing in 1975 when the 17th replaced the 456th at Beale. The squadron inactivated in 1976 when the 100th Air Refueling Wing replaced the 17th and its mission, personnel and equipment were transferred to the 349th Air Refueling Squadron, which moved to Beale without personnel or equipment from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, where it had been a

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

unit.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 903d Air Refueling Squadron, Heavy on 9 March 1959 : Activated on 1 April 1959 : Inactivated on 30 September 1976

Assignments

* 4126th Strategic Wing: 1 April 1959 * 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing (later 456th Bombardment Wing): 1 February 1963 * 17th Bombardment Wing: 30 September 1975 – 30 September 1976

History

Lineage

Assignments

Stations

Awards

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading